Omni Swipe Shows Consumer Adaptation to Bigger Smartphone Screens

On Twitter, Google Play editors called it “the @ContainerStore for our @Android”. Released a year ago by app developer Holaverse, Omni Swipe has quickly topped over 100 million downloads worldwide, prompting other app developers to include copycat functionality into their own products.

Omni Swipe’s popularity with Android users lies in its solution to the problem of using mobile devices with larger touchscreens. As smartphones become phablets, users find it increasingly hard to reach app icons and other controls located near the top of their screens, especially when only one hand is free. Omni Swipe overcomes this difficulty by keeping favorite apps, phone settingsand contacts always within reach in a fan-shaped customizable menu that users conveniently swipe into view from the lower-edges of their device, exactly where their thumbs are likely to be.

Omni Swipe’s design of remaining off-screen until needed is another key reason for its traction with users of Android-powered devices. Instead of replacing their smartphone’s interface or functionality, it complements and extends it, without obscuring or cluttering their device’s home screen.

Woody Guo is one-third of the development team for Omni Swipe at Holaverse. He explained that the app is not just about large screens but about reorganizing a smartphone’s functionality into a more user-friendly way.

“When we first designed Omni Swipe, we didn’t want it to be a strict utility app, but a helpful tool with a human touch that makes using smartphones more enjoyable,” says Guo.

Omni Swipe was a hit with users when it was first appeared on Google Play under its original name, Lazy Swipe, one that Holaverse changed within months. ” ‘Lazy Swipe’ was definitely tongue-in-cheek, and we were quite fond of it, but we worried about its negative connotations with certain users. We ultimately settled on ‘Omni Swipe’ to reflect our app’s ability to empower its users to do so many things more easily.”

Change is not limited to branding, as the Holaverse team continuously adds and tests new features ranging from the useful, like richer notifications for added social media apps, to the cosmetic, like backgrounds that change with the time of day. “We’re constantly challenging ourselves to make Omni Swipe a better app, to take it to another level.”

About Holaverse

Holaverse is a fast-growing developer of internationally popular Android apps. In addition to Omni Swipe, its other top-ranking 100+ million download mobile app is Hola Launcher, a home screen replacement with a mission to simplify and personalize the Android experience. For more information about the young company whose team members average just 27 years of age, please visit: http://holaverse.com.